But the men round him were possessed by that hate of the Indian which has so often hurried men of the new world into thoughtless reprisal, and Edgar would have died, had not a girl appeared among the soldiers on the shore. She was holding the arm of an American officer, white-faced and with a bandaged shoulder. Eli had got himself billeted on Susie to protect his sister and her friends, and he had gone out with Bee to look for Edgar, whom he knew would be in danger if recognized among the prisoners. Bee saw Edgar, and Eli sent her back at once, going on board himself. "Gentlemen," he said to Edgar's judges, "fifteen years ago my father met Mr. Edgar, both travelling through the Ohio valley. They were captured by the Shawanese. Mr. Edgar was spared because he was English, and Tecumseh was hoping for the friendship of the English against us. My father was to be burned at the stake, but Mr. Edgar risked sharing his fate by pleading and offering bribes, and instead of both dying, both were spared, and the Indians named this man Kaanah, 'One-who-is-a-Friend'. They were close friends till my father's death, when he left my only sister to Mr. Edgar's guardianship. England may have shamed her civilization by her alliance with savages, but though as a soldier Mr. Edgar could not choose his duties, I am certain he has never been a renegade to his white blood." Eli's defence of his father's friend was accepted, and Edgar was sent to the other prisoners at the palace. It was night now; in conquered York the women grieved for their dead, and prayed for their living--the men who were in the woods, and who would not surrender. As Edgar entered the big room where the English prisoners were, he saw Roke among them, and heard him saying--"The worst of all is letting them get the 'Gloucester', and Sir John gave Ensign Haslem the order for her captain. I heard him. And I saw young Haslem being carried to a wagon by Ned Edgar, and also saw him hold out his hand to Ned, evidently giving him something. Now, that order was not delivered, and as Ned is not among the dead or prisoners, it means that he ran without doing what he was ordered." "You lie," said Edgar promptly. Roke turned on him angrily, but the other men interfered. Exhaustion was more responsible for peace than forebearance, however, and Roke, with most of the others, was asleep, when he was awakened some time later by Edgar. "I'm going to escape," said the militia officer briefly, "I know more about this Palace than the men who think they are guarding us, and you are going with me. You called my son a coward, and when we find Ensign Haslem, and when he says, as I know he will, that it was not to Ned that he gave the letter, I shall take great pleasure in shooting you." CHAPTER VI. How Ned Lost His Good Name, and Vere His Soul.